Day One: The Olympians' wish.
It is said that all the people in the world are already born before they enter the physical world. They live in that special place called limbo in peace, surrounded by happiness and planning what they will do once they reach the physical world. They also spend a great deal of time thinking how they would achieve their goals. People know that they cannot do all on their own so they look for the best parents or family to be born in so, in that way, they can fulfill the plan they have already designed while living in the limbo.
To get everything you have already planned, you need to be a child, a baby to be exact, because that is the only way to start the journey, just from the very beginning, and slowly make your way into the world. Sometimes the path can be easy, most of the times it is difficult and hardly ever boring.
The simple act of being born is one of the most exciting experiences a human being can live through and it probably gets more exciting and adventurous when a group of gods and goddesses decide to intervene, even meddle, in a person's life. It is probably more dangerous when they decide to modify the existent rules not only for one person but also for two of them; because they stubbornly believed that the world will need them to be a better place to live in.
He was not the exception.
Even before his parents thought of having him, he was already an idea in the Olympians' minds and the more they thought about him, the more possible that idea became. After nearly five centuries of good and deep thinking, because centuries are just a blink in time for the gods, they decided to put their hands into action and they got together to plan how they would do that.
He was the exception this time.
Mean words, loud shouts and even blows were exchanged among the Olympians in the first meetings and, after long hours of discussions, they were still unable to reach to a common decision. The father of all the gods and goddesses of the Olympus and also the one and only creator of humankind, the almighty Zeus, had been ignored royally by the rest of his offspring. No one had ever doubted about Zeus's capability to father a new human being; no one had ever defied his authority when he had decided to take a human form and partake in the delights of the flesh with a willing woman and gave origin to a series of heroes and semi gods; so no one could understand why this simple mortal, who had not even been born yet, was already causing so many problems.
The simple answer came from a goddess, the beautiful Aphrodite, who clearly stated that this singular man would be like a lighthouse for the stranded, he would be comfort for the distraught, a safe harbour for the adventurous, strength for the weak and intelligence for the stubborn. He would look at the world with kind eyes; he would be merciful but not weak; he would be a follower but with the heart of a leader, he would be loyal but never a sycophant, he would love unconditionally but never blindly.
Everyone listened to the goddess, her speech fired the enthusiasm of the reunited gods, and for the first time during the long discussions, they reached an agreement unanimously. They would all take part on the birth of this singular and remarkable man and each of the participants would give him their best. A shy and weak voice was heard from the back of the room, the voice belonged to the naughty Eris so all the gods were on the alert because it was a bit strange that she sounded so gentle and wanting to please the others. When she was granted permission to talk, she suggested to include not only virtues but one or two tiny flaws in his character, just to prevent him believing a god in himself.
The gods and goddesses gave her suggestion a deep thinking; they accepted it and they all finally agreed that those flaws would be related to his character and never to his physical appearance. They also decided that they would be things the man could be able to deal with if he was in danger or he was helping others. They gave that idea another deep thinking and two flaws appeared to be the winners, self-sacrifice and stubbornness.
After the exhausting meeting, the gods and the goddesses were restless, so father Zeus invited them to have dinner together at the palace and he also offered the unusual pleasure of drinking some ambrosia served by the very handsome Ganymede in person. The immortals were really excited, they were accustomed to Zeus's generosity but the god father was always very reluctant to share his cup bearer with the rest of his children.
They had a succulent dinner and they drank large amounts of the delicious nectar while listening to the most beautiful music from the double flutes and the little cymbals. But when night fell in the world beneath their feet, Zeus asked them to go back to their homes and rest because the following day was going to be a very important one. All the present gods and goddesses felt their blood boiling in their veins because the big day had already come.
The beautiful Eos painted the sky rose announcing the arrival of the new day to the mortals living beneath them. Helios appeared in the horizon with his chariot bringing the light and the warmth of his rays, even though the mortals were still sleeping, and in calmness, the Olympians were in a real state of agitation since the wee hours of that particular day. They were all running from one side to the other, gathering all the things they thought they might need and bumping into each other in their hurry to get to the designed place first.
Nevertheless, father Zeus beat them all because when they arrived he had already started. The almighty god had spent the whole night travelling around the known world, choosing the correct combination of soils to make the body of this new man. After a close investigation, he decided to combine the different soils from the Greek lands and those belonging to the eastern territories, still unknown by the Greeks but that he hoped this man would help to conquer and rule with intelligence. The final result was pleasing to the eye because he had obtained a mass of a golden colour with a slight touch of bronze. He began to mix again, he got a malleable and coloured uniform mass, so he started to shape it into a human body. Zeus knew that the man, when fully developed, would be quite tall and with a strong frame. However, he did not give him a colossal height because he wanted people to trust him and not to be afraid of his size or muscled body. He moulded it and calculated how much of that mass would be dormant until this baby became an adult.
The rest of the gods and goddesses looked at their father work, they were astonished when they saw how Zeus finished the frame, and he let them approach to see the result. Even though it looked like an empty container, each of the gods present could picture with their inner eye what they would add to make of that their best creation.
Gentle Aphrodite approached first and, as she had been the one who had explained the true nature of this new being, she was named his life protector. She was so happy that she brought her husband Hephaestus with her and the blind and crippled god offered his gift, a unique sword made in the same forge he used to create most of the gods' equipment and some heroes' weapons such as the armor of Achilles. Then they left the place to Helios who warmed the body until it got a golden hue in its skin and then he intensified his heat and gave the hair a darker tone, a mixture between bronze and gold.
As the room was too hot, another god approached bringing the coolness of the seawater. Poseidon arrived riding two waves, big and majestic, with a unique shade of blue and they immediately jumped onto the body, cooling the still hot skin and taking final residence in the sockets of his eyes creating two amazing pools of heaven. The god knew that his eyes would be the kind of jewels entire empire would go to battle over.
Demeter offered rose petals to create his soft velvety lips and to give that healthy colour to his high cheekbones. Apollo offered just a little bit of his beauty, as he did not want to have a powerful rival walking among his mortals on the face of the earth. Hera offered her politeness and kindness of heart, she also gifted him the ability to give life, and she felt proud of herself because that gift would distinguish even more this remarkable man. Athena filled his mind with wisdom and mental speed. Ares provided him with courage but he was obliged to offer it devoid of the dangerous feeling of revenge. Finally, Eris was the goddess who gifted him his two flaws and so self-sacrifice and stubbornness stained slightly his perfection.
Zeus was going to give the final touches to their combined creation when a shy Eros approached the tall god and asked him to kneel by his side. The god of love whispered if it would not be a good idea to bestow a special partner upon this special man to share his life with. Zeus thought for a while and then decided that he would wait some months before creating that special partner but he encouraged Eros to give the man his gift while he was still around. The winged god flew in circles over the still body and then he approached him and kissed his chest, over his heart, giving him the ability to find and live eternal and true love.
Zeus asked the present gods if any of them had any other thing to add to their man; the gods and goddesses looked among them but everyone had already given him what they wanted. Therefore, the god father announced that he was going to seal the body but first he was going to insufflate his breath of life onto the still body. He knelt by the human being-to be and cradled him between his strong arms. Looking fixedly into his lifeless but beautiful eyes, Zeus blew life into him but, as he was feeling proud and generous with this new creation, he deepened his gift and added an extra amount of life force that would remain dormant until the need awoke it. He also gifted the possibility of transferring this life force to the one and only who could truly hold his heart.
At the same time as Zeus was blowing his life force into this being, a young Greek woman, in a farmhouse in the southern lands of Greece, felt a tingle run along her belly and she also felt how her womb was filled with life. She laughed loudly because she realized that her prays had been listened by her gods and that she had been blessed with a new baby. She ran towards the barn to give the news to her loving husband while laughs and cheers could be heard in mount Olympus.
A new baby was going to enter the physical world.
He was the exception to all the existing rules.
He was a gift from the gods to humankind.
He was going to make a difference.
It is said that some people come into our life and leave footprints in our hearts ….
This baby would turn into a remarkable man and he would definitely leave his footprints in history…